Emma's Mad Hatter 1st birthday Tea Party

I am finally getting around to posting these pictures. We all had a such a great time and I have to say I am very pleased with the way it all looked. I worked very hard on DIY projects for many weeks and recruited my poor husband to help me and he was great. Thanks to mom and dad Measer as well for all the chairs, the tables and for your help taking care of Emma while Mike and I setup everything. And thanks to everyone who came and made Emma's first birthday a very memorable one.
Enjoy the pics!

The Royal Croquet Court made by gluing dollar store flamingos onto a store bought croquet set

The roses on these cupcakes were handmade by yours truly. 30 White chocolate roses in 48 hours

The lady of the hour. My gorgeous little Emma in her fancy birthday hat, also made my mommy of course.

Whimsical flag banner

Emma's Cousin Maddi admiring the embellishments hanging in the princess tent in the garden

The kids enjoying tea time

Make your own Mad Hat craft station

Flower embellishments for the craft station

Sarah Measer shows off her creation

This way, That way...

The table is set for fun!

Setting the scene

I actually love the fact that one of the chairs is leaning. It just gives the whole setup more character and a "mad" look

Stacked teacup and paper flower centerpieces with googly eyes

Princess tent

Emma's Wonderland

Vintage Fabric Bed Spread

I recently picked up a book at the library (yes, I get my books at the library… I’m old school like that) about vintage fabric. It had some great projects in it and it inspired me to use up all the fabric I received from my amazing mother in law a few months ago. She had been collecting all these great fabrics for years and had no idea what to do with them and since I am the “crafty” one in the family she decided to give them all to me. Jackpot!

I was not sure what to do with them first and didn’t think that I could use them all in such a unique way. I had been wanting to make a new bed spread for our bed because our duvet is way too thick for the summer and I also wanted something more colorful and happy for the new season. My fabrics, along with my new inspiration were the perfect combination.

You too can make this project! It is not as hard as it seems and with a little time and patience, you too can have this happy summer bed spread.

Instructions

1. Select your fabrics. My mother in law gave me a bunch of cool floral fabrics so I used those. This is a vintage fabric spread but you can use any fabric types you want. And don’t be afraid if they don’t match. In fact, the difference between the colors and patterns is what makes it so bright and fun.  

2. Decide on the size of the bedspread you want to make. I made mine to fit a queen sized bed so I wanted the spread to be about 8’x 8’. Make sure you consider overhang and also about ½ an inch for seems. 

3. Cut fabric. I cut my fabric 12” wide by anywhere between 6”and 18” long. I wanted the pieces to be different lengths but you can also just cut them all 12”x12”. 

4. This is where the fun part begins. Arrange your fabrics on a large surface (the floor) to make sure they look good together and also to make sure that you don’t put 2 of the same pattern too close to one another. We want some variety. Add or move pieces around to suit your preference. Take a picture of the layout so you can remember the order. Otherwise you will get confused and might sew them wrong. 

5. Once you have your bead spread laid out on the floor, gather rows of  fabric pieces one at a time on top of one another. It's very important to keep the order here. Roll up each group and put a piece of tape with a number on them so you remember where they go.

6. Start sewing! Sew one row at a time. Lay your rows one next to the other just as the layout on your picture (Remember? The one you took when all your pieces were on the floor un-sewn?)

7. Sew the rows together one by one.

8. Once you have the whole thing sewn together. Pick a fabric for the back of the spread. I used plain white cotton because I had a lot leftover from another project but you can use a contrasting color to match the front. 

9. Sew the back of the spread. Leave a space to turn over the fabric.

 10. Once turned, sew the space up. Iron nicely and viola!

Happy bed spread making!

Mad Hatter Birthday Celebration

It's my daughter's 1st birthday soon. I can't even believe it's been a year since this gorgeous little angel entered into my life and made it so much better than I ever imagined it would be.
I decided to go all out and make her a beautiful Alice in Wonderland/ Mad Hatter birthday party in our back yard. Here is a little inspiration board I have used to create the decor.
More pics of the actual party to come soon...

Things I love, dreams can come true. Part One: My dream house

It's been a while since I posted anything. Again, life gets in the way. My baby girl is my number one priority at this moment, but that doesn't mean I have stopped dreaming. Much as happened in my life in the past 4 months. It's been challenging to adjust to life with a newborn, now a 4 month old beautiful baby girl. I am learning new things every day and realizing that being a mom is indeed the hardest job in the world, but also the most rewarding. Lately I have been thinking more seriously about a future home of our own. No more rentals, no more landlords, no more loud neighbors. I've always dreamed of living on a farm and growing my own food, maybe have a few chickens, have rose and peony bushes, lemon trees, and lots and lots of flowers. Here are some pictures of things I want on my farm. I decided that I have to put it in writing and post the pictures of things I want so they come to me. So with that said I am starting a series of posts called "Things I love, dreams can come true" And I'm starting with my dream homes/farms



The Beekman Estate in Sharon Springs, NY. Astonishing

I found this house online looking for "home floorplans" This Victorian beauty takes my breath away. I can imagine myself having lemonade in the summer on that wrap around porch.

A good farm needs a big barn... some of my favorites



All I can say is
aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!

Baby Room Tree Project & Tutorial

I've been going enjoying the decoration and planning of the nursery so much! I had seen some pictures of nurseries that had wall paintings of trees, monkeys, flowers, etc. I wanted to do something similar but without painting directly on the walls. Plus I wanted to step that up a notch and make it three dimensional. I decided to make a real "tree" on one of the corners of the room. To make it safe, I'd make it high enough that the baby wouldn't be able to reach it and place a comfy chair in front of it. This way, not only it would be in a safe place but it would also look like we are sitting under a tree when I read to her.
Here is the beautiful result

This is my first tutorial posting so please bare with me. I hope I've explained the process in a way everyone can understand. I've also attached pictures.

What you'll need:
- Bare branches, 2 or 3 sizes. I found mine in my back yard after winter.
- Fabric scraps in any combination you like (I used pinks, pastels, reds and other girly fabrics).
Plus fabric scraps in green tones (for the leaves)
- Random buttons, also in any preferred shade
- Pinking sheers
- thread and needle
- floral wire or any thin yet semi sturdy wire
- hot glue gun

1. Clean and sand the branches so they are nice and smooth
2. Once you have your branches ready, attach them to the wall with screws or hang them from the ceiling with fishing line if you want a ceiling arrangement.
3. Cut your fabric scraps in 3 different size circles. You can do any size depending on what size flower you want. I did 3", 2" and 1" circles.

4. Cut your green fabric scraps into leaf shapes. Make the fabric double so you can cut 2 shapes that will be exactly the same. You will need a double leaf.

5. Make your flower combinations by placing bigger circle on the bottom, then medium circle, then small circle on top.

6. Scrunch the 3 circles together and sew them in the center to create a little flower shape.


7. Once you have your flower, take a piece of wire, fold in in half and poke it through the middle of the flower. Then take a button and sew it over the wire, in the center of the flower.

8. Repeat steps 5,6 and 7 with all of your circles. Now that you have all your flowers ready. Move on to the leaves. Make sure you lace a towel, paper towel or something to protect your working surface.

9. Cut more wire in half or approximately 8" long.

10. Take your 2 sides of the leaf and open them up.
11. Put a line a hot glue in the center of one half of the leaf, place the wire over the glue and put the second leaf half on top. Press gently.

12. Now you have all your flowers and your leaves. It's time for the fun part! Placing them on the tree branches. Just wire them on randomly. You can pair leaves with flowers of just wire leaves and flowers on their own. Cut the wire excess. Make sure you cover the screws on the branches of any other "mechanics" you used to attach them to the wall or ceiling.
Tip: When you attach leaves on their own, place the leaf in front of the branch so it covers it's own wire.

And there you go! You're own indoor fabric flower tree!!!